My Trip to Twickenham: A Day in Pictures

What did I hope to get out of my trip to Twickenham to see England take on the All Blacks?

Well, an England win of course, a few scintillating tries and an unlikely meeting with New Zealand's delicious Dan Carter. 

Sadly I came away from south-west London disappointed on all three fronts, although I did have a brilliant day and it was a fantastic occasion.  Oh, and the fact that England didn't get rogered by 30 points as I predicted also helped.

Here is my day in pictures...

After hitting the M1 at 8am as planned, the irritating roadworks around Nottingham took their toll which necessitated a slightly earlier pit stop.  After parking up at Oxford services, my Dad noticed the registration plate of the car in front of us:

Was this an omen for England?  Why try (when you know you're going to get your arses kicked?)

Putting aside that unsavoury thought, we battled through the traffic and arrived at Twickenham stadium for 12:30pm.

Oh look, it's the player's entrance.  How handy.

After speaking with a friendly steward with dodgy peroxide blonde hair, I ascertained that the arrival of the teams was imminent.  Excellent.  Time to sharpen those elbows...

Team England rocked up first, and despite my best efforts I was pretty rubbish at getting any good photos.  Still, here are the best ones:

Jonny!

Danny Care, Simon Shaw and Ugo Monye

I decided that a better viewpoint was required for the arrival of the All Blacks, so Dad and I climbed the west stand stairs and waited for the NZ team bus and the moment I'd been longing for...

DAN!  DAN!  DAN!

Don't worry, I didn't shout or make a tit of myself.  I just took this photo of him walking along with his head down.  Grr.

With the players safely arrived, Dad and I decided to refresh ourselves with a luke warm beer.  As my Dad is a smoker we drank them outside the west stand in a delightful location next to some bins whilst he puffed on his pipe.  It is here where I noticed something rather amusing, given the current questions surrounding the England set up:

Yes that's right - Rob Andrew is poised to fall into a bin.  Irony or prophesy?

With my Dad finished sending smoke signals we decided to have a nosy around the stadium and see what was happening on the pitch.

Lo and behold, it's Jonny Wilkinson practising his kicks/curling out a poo.

We watched England and New Zealand warming up for a while at their respective ends of the pitch and soon enough it was time to take our seats for the game.  A giant cross of St. George was draped across the pitch by some lovely army lads, and then the England team ran out to blasts of fire:

Top of my Christmas wish list: a flame throwing camera.

The teams lined up for the anthems...

...and then you can read my review to find out the rest.

It was a great day even though I sadly didn't fulfil my Quest to Meet Dan Carter, my Dad and I both really enjoyed ourselves. 

It's just a shame that it is such a long drive to get there...

Hopefully when I venture down to Twickenham again the result will be slightly more favourable.

Off-Colour All Blacks Beat Unbalanced England

England 6 - 19 New Zealand

Perched high up from my seat in Twickenham's west stand I watched a slightly off-colour All Blacks do enough to beat a rather unbalanced England on a drizzly afternoon at the home of rugby yesterday afternoon.

It was my first trip to Twickenham to watch an England test match, and whilst it might not have been the most exhilarating, free-flowing game in the world it was a brilliant occasion with a atmosphere to match.  England supporters haven't had much to cheer about in recent weeks, so with me fully expecting England to be dished out a rather unappetizing rugby lesson from Ritchie McCaw and pals, all I really hoped for was that England came out to play some rugby and didn't just capitulate at the hands of the currently top ranked team in the world.

"Right boys.  They've laid out the red carpet for us.  Let's give them a pasting."

Going in to this game there were plenty of subplots:
Dan Carter needed only two more points to overtake Andrew Mehrtons and become New Zealand's highest point scorer of all time.  There was also Carter's much hyped face off with Jonny Wilkinson to consider, heralded as a clash between the best fly-half in the world and his injury ravaged predecessor.  Oh, and then there was also the small matter of the microscope that had been firmly placed over Martin Johnson, his coaching squad and their team selection.  Surely a bad performance against New Zealand would result in a few casualties in this department, wouldn't it?

The game began and it was England who looked the steadier team and more physical and committed.  Matt Banahan looked like he'd caught a bought of rabies from 'Mad Dog' Lewis Moody, as from the kick off he sprinted and harried and gave Moody the opportunity to put pressure on the clearance kick from Dan Carter.  In fact, I don't know if Mehrton's record was playing on Carter's mind but he had a rather shaky start which developed into one of the worst performances I've seen him play.  With an astonishing record of slotting 31 out of his last 32 attempts on goal, the Twickenham crowd fully expected Carter to pass Mehrton's record within the first few minutes when New Zealand won a penalty.

The crowd held its breath and no doubt the commentators on Sky waxed lyrical about Carter's accuracy and his amazing conversion rate - just as Carter proceeded to push the ball wide.  WHAT?  A let off for England.

Rain started to fall and the game inevitably got a bit scrappy.  To their credit, both teams still tried to run with the ball and it didn't disintegrate into a tedious kick-fest.  A slippy ball and surface almost provided Ugo Monye with the opening try when he tackled Zak Guildford who was running the ball out of the New Zealand twenty-two, causing it to pop up and land in Monye's hands.  Monye sprinted over the line but the try was ruled out by referee Jonathan Kaplan.  I had a great view of Monye's effort and I thought it looked fine, but having seen the replay this morning, as much as it pains me to say it, Kaplan was right.

Despite their efforts to run the ball England's back line still played too deep and never really threatened the advantage line.  Jonny Wilkinson needs to stand flatter like he does at Toulon and drag the backs up with him.  With all the excitement of an 'almost try' for England, Wilkinson settled Twickenham's nerves by coolly kicking England's first scoring opportunity when New Zealand infringed at the breakdown.  3-0 to England after 15 minutes.

Jonny opens the scoring

What then followed was a litany of mistakes from the usually faultless Carter.  A missed kick into touch; a spill of the ball in the tackle; kicks up field that lacked their usual epic length.  Why Carter didn't try and put pressure on butterfingers Banahan and Monye with the high ball I don't know.  Instead he was happy to kick the ball up field where the much more composed Cueto was waiting, and despite not having played at full back for Sale this season he looked calm under the high ball.  Even though Carter's kicking boots weren't weaving their usual magic, the line-out that resulted from one of his successful kicks into touch almost saw New Zealand cross the line for the first time.  The ball was fed out from the line-out to Carter who was standing flat.  He passed the ball to Conrad Smith who made a break and linked up with full back Mils Mulianina who would have scored in the corner had it not been for Monye's rapid scramble defence.  A lesson for England:  New Zealand were playing flat, quickly crossed the advantage line and almost scored.  A worrying threat from the All Blacks at the end of the first quarter.

Finally, New Zealand fans got to see what they had been waiting for when Tim Payne was penalised for a couple of punches that he casually threw in at the breakdown.  I've no idea why this didn't earn him a yellow card so England were lucky in this respect, but not where Carter was concerned as he finally found his kicking boots and easily scored his first points of the game with a brilliant kick in the tricky conditions.  Congratulations on passing Mehrton's record Dan.

Carter lining up to pass Mehrton's record

Wilkinson and Carter exchanged another penalty each before half time (along with yet another uncharacteristic miss from Carter), and then the England belief and defence saw them shut down the New Zealand threat in the last five minutes of the half when they threatened the England line.  This was a definite step up from England's performance against Argentina.

The second half started in much the same way as the first, with both teams trying to play expansive rugby and both teams failing as the ball went to ground.  The first echoes of 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" reverberated from the stands but it couldn't prevent New Zealand scoring what turned out to be the only try of the game when scrum-half Jimmy Cowan crossed after excellent link up play between Sitiveni Sivivatu and Richie McCaw.  Now with his eyes firmly on the prize, Carter successfully kicked a difficult conversion from the touchline to take his tally to four kicks from six.  6-16 to the All Blacks after 59 minutes.

As the rain started to fall harder, England started to try and force the game.  Despite having a penalty in the bag, Jonny Wilkinson tried for a drop goal and failed.  Why didn't you push for the try Jonny or at least go back for the place-kicked penalty?  With England pushing the game New Zealand capitalized again due to their ability to quickly get over the gainline.  Replacement hooker Steve Thompson got pinged by referee Kaplan for diving in at the breakdown, gifting the rather off-colour Carter an easy penalty under the posts to take the score to 6-19 with just over ten minutes remaining.

Maybe the fact that England had made 112 tackles to New Zealand's 60 meant that they were tiring, so even with Geraghty and Tait on the field the last ditch attempts to pressurize the All Blacks line failed.

The game ended with a rather scrappy New Zealand beating England by 6-19. 

Before the game I said I wanted to see England play and they definitely did that to a higher standard than they showed against Australia and Argentina.  Industry, passion and commitment were all in evidence but accuracy and incision were sadly missing.  With the selections of Erinle and Hipkiss in the centre, Shaw in the second row and Banahan on the wing it was clear that Martin Johnson had assembled a team that could physically front up to the All Blacks.  That's fine, but in doing this there was no room for the finishers which left a rather unbalanced side.  There's a lot of work needed before the Six Nations, but hopefully with players like Toby Flood coming back from injury it might help sort out England's midfield woes.

New Zealand on the other hand, put in a generally good all round performance but with no real standout players.  I was really happy to watch them in my first ever live international game but they are still very much a work in progress and yesterday they weren't the prolific New Zealand side that I have come to expect.  Still, it's their third game on the bounce where they haven't conceded a try, although they've got plenty to work on before they face their big test of their autumn tour when they take on France in Marseille next weekend.

The Quest to Meet Dan Carter (3): T minus 1 day 20 hours and 13 minutes

Right then.

I've only got two more night's sleep and a few more hours of pesky work standing between me and the opportunity to meet my favourite rugby hunk du jour, the lovely Dan Carter.

So far I've hatched a few plans, realised I run the risk of degenerating into a desperado and have pulled myself back from the brink of transforming into a female version of Alan Partridge.

I spoke with my Dad last night (as we are going to watch the rugby at Twickenham together) and we have formulated a plan of action for the trip.  Well, my Dad knows about the plan up until about point number 7:

1. Set off from my house at 8am.
2. While away the time on the tedious drive down the M1 by eating sweets, listening to Chris Rea (my Dad's choice) and stopping off at Newport Pagnell services for a quick wee.
   

The sun always shines at Newport Pagnell
3. Arrive in the Twickenham area (traffic permitting) by about 12pm.
4. Park the car and tuck in to the lovely selection of sandwiches I made before we set off.  (Arse.  Must remember to do that before we leave).
5. Laugh at my Dad as he tries to make a brew on a gas camping stove in gale force winds with a comedy camping kettle.
6. Take it all back as the brew tastes lovely.
   

Surprisingly useful
7. Head to the stadium at approximately 12:30pm.
8. Get a pie.
9. Pester my Dad to go to the players entrance.
10. Get annoyed with him when he drags me to the shop to buy an England umbrella instead.
11. Sulk for 5 minutes before realising that I am in a SHOP and I have my credit card with me.
12. Buy some England branded tat.
    

I won't be buying this really. 
13. Have a bit of a wander around.  Try to drag my Dad to the players entrance.  Fail.
14. Sulk again.
15. Tell my Dad that he's rubbish and I might have to revert to plan B and pass him off as Bill Beaumont if he doesn't co-operate.
16. Successfully arrive at the players entrance only to realise it's now 1:15pm and that they've already arrived.
17. Decide to go to the bar instead (as my Dad is driving) and drink some wine.
    
    

Please numb the pain of what is to come...
18. Drink some more wine.
19. Realise it's nearly time for kick off and that I need another wee.
20. Queue for what seems like 5 hours for the ladies.
21. Take our seats at 2:15pm
22. Watch the game.
23. Get depressed.
24. Leave.
25. Drive back listening to 'Big Country' with me suffering from a mild hangover.

Hmm.  Yes I think that's how it will probably go, but then again you never know.

I'm still hopeful.

England Team to Face NZ

The England team that will get whipped by the All Blacks this Saturday has been announced this lunchtime.

Deep breath, here goes:

15 Mark Cueto (Sale Sharks)
14 Matt Banahan (Bath Rugby)
13 Dan Hipkiss (Leicester Tigers)
12 Ayoola Erinle (Biarritz)
11 Ugo Monye (Harlequins)
10 Jonny Wilkinson (Toulon)
9 Paul Hodgson (London Irish)

1 Tim Payne (London Wasps)
2 Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints)
3 Duncan Bell (Bath Rugby)
4 Simon Shaw (London Wasps)
5 Steve Borthwick (Saracens, captain)
6 Joe Worsley (London Wasps)
7 Lewis Moody (Leicester Tigers)
8 James Haskell (Stade Francais)

Replacements:

16 Steve Thompson (Brive)
17 David Wilson (Bath Rugby)
18 Louis Deacon (Leicester Tigers)
19 Tom Croft (Leicester Tigers)
20 Danny Care (Harlequins)
21 Shane Geraghty (Northampton Saints)
22 Mathew Tait (Sale Sharks)

Awesome.  Another makeshift fullback and Ben Foden sent back to Northampton. At least they've binned off Andy Goode. Still, with the likes of Borthwick 'leading' from the front, England are going to be fine right?

Wrong, it's time for Borthwick to go. He's OK but he's not an international captain and does everything to prove this. Did anyone see him rallying the England pack last weekend? No, me neither.  Don't worry though, we've got the dynanism of Deacon waiting to explode off the bench.  Great.

I'm unsure as to why Tait is on the bench. Surely he'd be a better choice at 12 than Erinle? Hmm. Still, it could be worse, they could be persisting with Banahan. Oh what's that? They are.

It's grim, but I predict New Zealand to bum England by at least 30 points.

Still, I've said it once and I'll say it again: at least I can distract myself with the more aesthetic delights of some the players trotting around on the pitch.  And no, I'm not talking about Duncan Bell...

Squad Switcheroo

So it's time for the obligatory squad shake-ups before the next round of autumn international test matches. 

Whilst the Scotland team that will face Australia is unchanged from the side that got the better of Fiji in a dour encounter last weekend, Martin Johnson is getting good use of the revolving door that he had especially fitted in the home changing room at Twickenham prior to the start of this test series. 

Across the Irish sea there are a few changes in the Ireland starting fifteen, and over in Cardiff, the Wales side that narrowly lost to New Zealand is fully reformed like a slab of Spam after a week's break - well, with one new ingredient, and hopefully a little bit more meat than they showed against Samoa.

So who's in and who's out?

England

IN: 
Simon Shaw (lock), Mathew Tait (full back/wing/centre)

OUT: 
Andy Goode (part time fly-half/full time hair model), Courtney Lawes (lock)

RELEASED: 
Ben Foden (full back), Jordan Crane (number 8), George Chuter (hooker), Steffon Armitage (flanker), Ben Kay (lock), Paul Sackey (wing), Richard Wigglesworth (scrum half), David Flatman (prop)

Interesting. 
Andy Goode is going back to Brive.  See ya.
Monye hasn't been released, so is he going to switch to the wing so that either Cueto or Tait can start at full back?  With Steve Borthwick stubbornly clutching on to the captaincy and therefore guaranteeing his place in the side, it looks like Lions hero, man-mountain and the old experienced hands of Simon Shaw might push Louis Deacon on to the bench, which can only be a good thing.

All will be revealed at 12pm GMT tomorrow...


Ireland

IN:
Jonny Sexton (fly-half), Eoin Reddan (scrum half), Gordon D'Arcy (centre), Keith Earls (wing), Shane Horgan (wing), Tom Court (loosehead), Leo Cullen (lock), Denis Leamy (flanker)
New Replacements: Sean Cronin (hooker), Sean O'Brian (flanker).

OUT:
Tommy Bowe (wing), Ronan O'Gara (fly-half), Luke Fitzgerald (wing, injured), David Wallace (flanker), Cian Healy (loosehead, injured)

Hurrah!  The pretender to the O'Gara throne, Leinster's young gun Jonny Sexton is winning his first cap for Ireland.  I like Jonny Sexton a lot.  Last year he demonstrated a cool presence on the pitch in the pressurized environment of the Heineken Cup after playing second fiddle to Felipe Contepomi for such a long time, and he has shown the world that he has a calm head on his young shoulders.  Also, I like him because he looks quite sweet and a bit like an oversized toddler.  Bless.

Mansize toddler: Jonny Sexton (on the left)

Along with Jonny, the two Seans on the bench are also uncapped with Declan Kidney keen to give a few more young guns a shot against Fiji at Dublin's RDS.


Wales

IN:
Jonathan Davies (centre), Shane Williams (wing), Matthew Rees (hooker), Stephen Jones (fly-half), Martyn Williams (flanker), Gareth Cooper (scrum half),
New replacements: Andrew Bishop (centre), Dan Lydiate (flanker)

OUT:
Tom Shanklin (centre, injured), Martin Roberts (scrum half), Dan Biggar (fly-half), Dan Warburton (flanker),

Big news for Wales is that Jonathan Davies is BACK.

Soft focus really takes off the years

No, not that Jonathan Davies. 

21 year old Jonathan Davies plays in the centre (for the Scarlets) and not at fly-half like his legendary bouffant-haired namesake.  This weekend the new Jonathan Davies will make his first start at the Millennium stadium after impressing when he replaced injured Tom Shanklin off the bench in the game against Samoa last weekend.


Scotland

IN:
No-one.

OUT:
No-one.

Nice bit of consistency there Mr Robinson.  Good luck against Australia though.

Any excuse to include a picture of curly-haired Scotland captain, Chris Cusiter

What do I think?

It's good to see that Wales and Ireland are willing to give some of their hot up and coming talent some time on the pitch - unlike England. 

As much as I welcome the return of Simon Shaw and Mathew Tait into the England squad I'm still disappointed that Lawes and Foden have both been sent back to Northampton.  What was the point in hyping up Lawes so much if it was only in the mythical (and possibly non-existent) game plan for him to play approximately ten seconds of rugby in the two games where he was selected? 

With Monye hopefully not being allowed to continue pleasuring us with his erratic displays at full back and being switched to the wing (where he can ably demonstrate his sole skill of running fast in a straight line), Tait can step in to add some composure and threat from deep and Banahan can be relegated to the bench where he can hone his sprinting skills and try to out run an IKEA wardrobe for the first time in his life.

My predictions for this weekend?

New Zealand to beat England by 30 points.  At least.
Ireland to beat Fiji by 20 points.
Wales to beat Argentina by 10 points.
Australia to beat Scotland by about 1000 points.

Place your bets.

The Quest to Meet Dan Carter (2): Research

A quick update on my masterplan to meet Dan Carter....

Thanks to a top tip from one of my readers and a quick glance at my ticket for the England vs New Zealand game next weekend, I have discovered that the player's entrance to Twickenham stadium is in the West Stand, and that my seat is - yes, that's right - in the West Stand.  A coincidence?  Probably.  Or could it be fate?  Well, probably not.

Either way, a nice early arrival and the expert use of my elbows to get to the front of the crowd might afford me a glimpse of my tracksuit-clad (minor) rugby obsession, the lovely Dan Carter.

Hello!

However, when I stop to imagine the moment where I see Dan up close and personal for the first time, I can't help shake off the image that I will somehow rapidly metamorphosize into a female version of Alan Partridge:

I cannot let this happen.

Next on the agenda:  Practising keeping my cool.

The Quest to Meet Dan Carter

I've been an admirer of Dan Carter for some time now.

Why?

Oh I don't know.  Could it be his prowess with a rugby ball and his skills as the near perfect number 10? 

Well yes....

And could it be that it's because he is totally gorgeous, has such cute dimples, an amazing body and seems to be a pretty nice bloke along with it?

Er, yeah that too.

Dan Carter: Brilliant

I'm not ashamed to admit it, but yes I have a crush on Dan Carter.  Of course my boyfriend is thrilled about this, but he's got no room to talk as he bleats on about the joys of Katherine Heigl every time he watches "Grey's Anatomy".  Funnily enough it's OK for him to admire her "qualities" but he gets upset if I mention Dan.  I wonder why?

Katherine Heigl:  So that's what all the fuss is about...

Anyway, my boyfriend has no need to worry.  I've not assembled a shrine to sexy Dan at the foot of my bed, I don't fantasise about him whisking me off into the sunset, and the achingly handsome Mr. Carter hasn't slapped a restraining order on me as I'm not some sort of weird knicker-wielding stalker.

However, I would very much like to meet the lovely Dan, shake him by the hand, tell him that I think he's ace and have my photo taken with him.  And maybe cop a feel of guns.  Well, I can dream...

Therefore, my trip down to Twickenham for the England vs New Zealand game the weekend after next with my Dad is probably the best chance I'll get to make my photo opportunity/bicep stroking dreams a reality.  All I need is a plan.


So far I have come up with three ideas:

1. Masquerade as a member of the Sky Sports team
   
   
   
   
   
   This might sound unlikely but it inadvertently worked for my friend Joe. 
   
   The other month Joe went over to Dublin's RDS to watch the Leinster vs London Irish game, and he was nonchalantly minding his own business under the stand when a friendly security guard called him over.
   
   "Are you waiting for Billy*?" asked the friendly Irish security guard.
   
   "Billy....?" Joe replied, utterly confused.
   
   "Yeah, he's inside with yer pass," the security guard continued, pointing through the door into the press area.  "You can go in if you like."
   
   "Oh right," said Joe, who then proceeded to walk into a room filled with media types and hardened hacks.
   
   Upon arrival he was accosted by Billy, who turned out to work for Sky Sports.
   
   "Right, here's your pass.  Follow me,"  Billy stated, before leading Joe out of the room and into some kind of marquee area.
   
   A perplexed Joe stood there for a couple of minutes before realising where he was: in the press area right next to the pitch. 
   
   Soon, Brian O'Driscoll, Rob Kearney and Luke Fitzgerald were all sauntering past, and to his credit, Joe stood there in a dignified silence - well, apart from wishing them all good luck. 
   
   Moments after the teams had filed through, Joe spotted an angry looking Billy catch his eye and start walking towards him.  Realising he was busted, Joe legged it through the nearest exit.  Still, it was an excellent slice of luck.
   
   
   
   Now I admit, if that had happened to me, my face would have blushed redder than Rafa Benitez's face after another humiliating Liverpool defeat and I would have probably made a total tit out of myself or been shamefully girly.  However, if I prepare myself for something like this to potentially happen when I am at Twickenham then I will be OK.  All I need to do now is locate where the Sky Sports presenters/camera men/technicians hang out when I am there.
   
   
   
   * Name changed!
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Pass my Dad off as Bill Beaumont.
   
   
   
   OK, so my Dad and Bill have a few things in common: They're both from Chorley; they're practically the same age; they're almost the same height; they have the same accent, and their hair is practically identical.
   
   The only issues are:
   
   
   
   a)  My Dad has a beard and Bill doesn't
   
   
   
   b)  My Dad doesn't own a suit, and to get away with this ruse he'd have to wear one to the game.
   
   Still, other than that I reckon I could fool the bods at Twickenham that my Dad is actually Bill Beaumont, so it might be worth a go. With my Dad as Bill, we could get to the 'inner sanctum' and therefore be more likely to meet Dan Carter. Or be banned from Twickenham for life: it could go either way.
   
   
   
3. Find out which hotel the New Zealand team is staying in and stake it out
   
   Slightly stalky and therefore not the best idea, plus my Dad and I have a long trip back up the M1 after the game and I don't think he'd appreciate loitering in a hotel lobby for several hours. Not that I'd ever be able to find out which hotel they're staying in anyway....
   

 Back to the drawing board methinks. 

Twickenham here I come!

Today was pretty crap until precisely 17:29.

To give you a gist of my mind numbing Thursday it basically involved me sitting at my desk staring blankly at my computer screen with zero inspiration for the problem I was trying to solve. After several failed attempts (and after slipping into my spurs and Stetson and writing possibly some of the worst programming code of my life) I conducted a swift DIY lobotomy on myself with a sharpened pencil and then hastily cancelled a hotel in Edinburgh and re-booked myself into an apartment in Manchester - which, as you will probably know, isn't exactly handy if you want to spend the weekend tossing cabers and laughing at drunken Scottish tramps.

Anyway, after getting into a right radge and causing my friend Nicola to have a small nervous breakdown (as she is accompanying me on my trip to Edinburgh), I received the best news I've had in a long time.

I was just about to shut down my crappy steam-driven computer and go home and sulk when an email irritatingly pinged into my inbox. I hate it when that happens. Nine times out of ten it turns out to be a pesky client with a super urgent ID.10T issue which I have to stay late and solve. But not tonight. Oh no. Tonight, my 17:29 email from was from a lovely chap called Mike Bidgood at the Leeds Carnegie ticket office, who was writing to kindly inform me that my name had been drawn in the ballot, and I am one of the chosen few who gets the opportunity to buy tickets for....

wait for it...

ENGLAND VS NEW ZEALAND AT TWICKENHAM!!!

Oh, and to make things even better, apparently I can buy tickets for the England vs Australia game too.

:-)

YESSSS!

This is brilliant for two reasons:

1. I have never been to Twickenham to watch an England international game before. I did go in 2005 to watch Leeds lift the Powergen Cup (remember that one Bath fans?) but other than that, securing tickets to watch England at the home of rugby has been about as easy as finding anyone who thinks X-Factor's John and Edward are talented. (Seriously? Who is voting for those high-haired jeb ends?)

2. If you even vaguely know me you will know that I have a massive interest* with New Zealand's fly half, the ever sexy and amazing Dan Carter.

(* I prefer to say interest and not 'obsession' as it stops me from sounding slightly stalky, and plus Dan doesn't have a restraining order out on me - that I know of).

I think this calls for a rather gratuitous pic of Dan Carter playing with a ball:

I am one very happy bunny at the moment, as is my Dad (who is coming with me) and my boyfriend (who isn't and will therefore get a weekend of peace and quiet.)

Oh, and to top it all off, after work I *accidentally* went into town and bought myself a new handbag. Well, there was 10% off so it would have been rude not to!

So there you go: after a totally wank start this was probably one of the better Thursdays I've ever had. Maybe I'll start looking forward to the 17:29 emails a bit more in future....